Devil Survivor: The Day A New Demon Was Born
by Oborin
Summary: Devil Survivor Over-Clocked and Persona come together to to test Kazuya Minegishi's soul, so he shows the world his results. This fanfic holds connections to SamJaz's Fanfic "A Fairly English Story"
1. Prologue: The Past

I never enjoyed their social visits, hours of talking over nothing, while I had to endure childrens toys. This time they were going to meet with my "fathers" sister, I was told that I would be expected to watch my cousin while they chatted away the hours. At least I would have someone to talk to.

The vehicle pulled to a stop in front of the small house, such a fascinating creation. No matter how many times I saw new technology it always gave me an excitement I found nowhere else. They got out of the car and opened my door.

"Naoya, do you remember what we spoke about? I haven't seen my sister in sometime, so I'd like to catch up without interruptions," The man before me repeated for the seventh time. I understand him the first time, repeating it another six will not improve someone's memory; they're more likely to stop listening all together. But he couldn't know that.

"Yes, Father. I understand." I smiled politely, and nodded. Yes, I understood his pointless repetitive actions, taking the woman's hand. Absolutely sickening, acting like some stupid child. "What's my cousin's name?" Despite all of his repetitions he had neglected to mention it even once.

"Weren't you listening to me?" He sounded angry. "I've told you a thousand times. His name is Kazuya."

I gritted my teeth, he hadn't said that even once. I would have remembered. "Of course father, how could I have forgotten, since you told me before?"

"Good boy." He smiled. What a faker. He didn't mean a single thing he said. But who was I to judge him? I was the same way. We approached the front door, and he rang the bell. The young blue haired woman opened the door after only a few seconds. Naturally, she had expected us.

"Ah, Hello. Come in." She greeted us warmly. A nice change, someone who seemed to care; I wondered if she was actually sincere. But something else caught my eye. Something impossible, that blue haired child standing behind her, clinging to her leg hiding. "You must be Naoya." She knelt to get closer, extending her hand. I shook it. I saw her lips moving but I couldn't hear what she said anymore, I could actually see the child now, who was still trying to hide behind his mother. "Ah, you seem distracted. This is Kazuya." She egged him out from behind her. He was a few years younger than I was, but there was no mistaking it.

I smiled, "its nice to see you again." His parents looked confused for a moment. "I'll watch him. You can go talk with my father if you like."

"My, he's quite responsible for his age." It was her who started the conversation, their voices continued as they walked down the hall but I stopped listening. My hands started closing around, the child's throat. His eyes widened confused.

"Don't mock me!" I whispered loudly, as he struggled. "Don't act stupid." He kept struggling, and my hands slowly released him as realization struck me. "You don't remember." I cursed His name. This was his fault. I found the child's room and started digging through his toys, as he followed me idiotically; like a droid. It didn't take me long; he had been making crafts before we got there, so the scissors had been just cast aside when he fled to his mother's side. "Stay here." I told him. He cocked his head but sat down. _Just like a dog._ He was such an obedient child, just like always. I checked on the adults, they were deep in conversation; they wouldn't miss me for a few minutes. I stepped outside and inspected the car. These scissors should do the trick. I began my work; putting the scissors back when I was done, I entertained the cursed child. It wasn't a difficult task, after all I knew this child, my brother quite well. The meeting seemed to end quicker then normal. I smiled when they called me.

"Father, can I stay here? I want to play with Kazuya some more," I asked, it wasn't a lie. But it was beyond his understanding.

"Oh that's-"

"I want Naoya to stay." The small voice behind me picked up, catching the adults attention.

"Well I can't make that decision. What do you think?" He asked his sister.

"Oh that's great. I'm fine with it. Kazuya rarely opens up to someone like this. It's a good experience for him." My previous evaluation of her had been correct. She was truly sincere and loved her child.

"We'll come back later this evening then. We'll be in the city for a while." The man and his wife went to the car, waving at me.

"Good bye." I smiled and waved. Later that day, the phone call arrived. My 'parents' had died in a car crash. Apparently the brakes lines in their car had started wearing, and finally broke when they tried to break at an intersection. They both died instantly. The funeral was quiet, only a few people. I stood away from them all, and people left me alone. They thought I was crying.

I wasn't.

I was laughing.

* * *

The next few years went by quickly. I was adopted into the Minegishi family, and grew up with Kazuya as if he were my own brother. But they still insisted on us referring to each other as cousins. It was probably to keep the family image but I couldn't understand it. At one point they tried to start going to church, however I quickly taught them the error of their ways. I had a hard time controlling my temper when they tried to speak about God, and often said too much that left them speechless.

Kazuya grew up quickly as well, he very well in school. And he seemed to make it his goal to get a better grade then I did. He could never over come my grades though.

He was my opposite; I preferred to be secluded, alone. And people who realized this quickly left me alone. There was one however, who persisted where all others failed. A friend Kazuya met in junior high school. Just after I had graduated and started attending college for computer programming. His name was Atsuro Kihara, and he followed me like a dumb puppy. He mimicked me and even insisted I become his teacher. After refusing him dozens of times, I finally gave in and accepted. Although, only in name. He was a bright young man, but he didn't carry one wit of his own free will. He simply did what his friends did.

He met Yuzu Tanikawa in high school, who obviously carried a flame for him, he either didn't notice or chose not to notice. I was proud of the fact that he wouldn't let himself fall prey to a woman like that, she had a strong will, but no brains. She didn't like me much. But then I didn't like her either so it worked out. And besides, I didn't need to like them. He did.

After all he'd need companions for the days to come.


	2. Chapter 1

I leaned back in my chair coming out of my daydream; my work for the Shomonkai cult was coming to an end. It worked out just as I had originally thought. As soon as I finished the programming of this device I would cut ties with them. Their goal was vastly different then my own, even if their aim was the same. I couldn't have them dragging me down when the promised day came.

There was a knock on the door, but I ignored it. "Are you doing well, Naoya?" The girl had let herself in anyway. I wasn't surprised. I wasn't supposed to be hiding anything from them; I slipped the game into my kimono.

"What is the Shomonkai Maiden doing here?" I tossed the question at her as if I were surprised by her appearance. The orange dress, and blue flower in her violet hair gave her a distinct presence; just as my red eyes and silver hair gave me mine. "I'm almost finished here. The Shomonkai will have their means soon." I finished the last of the programming. "I can show you the results tomorrow, however I still have a few things to set up."

"Very well. Will you be heading home for the night? We can have you escorted." She offered. I knew her reasons. She wanted to watch me; she wanted to make sure I wasn't up to anything that might harm their grand plan. I had no intention of interfering with their plan so long as they stayed out of mine.

"I need to finish my work. I'll head home by myself." That was only if I managed to get out of here tonight. Not that it mattered to me. Everything was going according to schedule.

"Did you figure out the problem with the summoning vessel?" She was hung up on that problem? It's true I had some difficulty with the summoning vessel but that had been at the beginning of the contract.

"If you'll excuse me, I still have work to do, I'll clear out my office once I've shown you the final product." She seemed to get the message because I heard her foot steps disappear down the hallway. Such a naïve woman, absolultely no idea what you could accomplish with a device like this, but then she was but a puppet on her fathers strings. "What a shame, they are such great pawns." I stood up and stretched my legs. It was about time to head out.

The bar wasn't that far from my office, but it allowed me to think about his cousin and his two friends. They would be going on summer vacation tomorrow. They usually spent quite a bit of their time together, so making plans with them during summer vacation would be easy. All I had to do was time it before the Shomonkai made there move, the founder wasn't a man to be taken lightly, nor was his daughter, the maiden of the Shomonkai. Nonetheless they were but pawns, pieces in my game. "Oh hello, sir." The familiar voice of the bartender greeted me. He stood about 5'11 and had jetblack hair. But he gave off the presence of someone who was easy going. "You're later then usual. Work?"

"Yeah." This man was another pawn. But he wasn't my pawn. He was the Shomonkai's pawn. He probably wasn't even aware of it yet. "Say did you find that woman yet? I heard she went missing."

"No nothing, infact I was just about to ask you that. I was hoping you might have heard something, you work at the Shomonkai right?" He put a glass down infront of me. I hadn't thought I'd been in here that often.

"I did. I'm finished tomorrow. I'm sorry I didn't hear anything about the woman." She was the one who had allowed me to make figure out the problem with the Summoning Vessel. Of course I'd heard about her. But she disappeared afterwards. I'm not entirely sure what happened. I have several speculations, but none that this man would believe. After finishing my drink I put the money on the counter with the handheld system, and stood up. "I'll be going now, Kamiya. I have to go in early tomorrow and clean out my office."

"I'll see you around Naoya." I passed by a woman with red hair and a loose white dress, she was the one who lead me to Aya, the woman who vanished after the Summoning Server had begun to make real progress. "Good evening Harusawa" I closed the door behind me and headed towards my apartment. I'd better get used to walking. I'd be walking a lot over the next few days.


	3. Chapter 2

The voice came to me in my sleep, overpowering and full of authority.

_One born of human flesh…_

_Man is now a race of some power._

_You, Son of Man,_

_Must face the power you hold._

_And you must face your destiny as well…_

_Though your days be peaceful,_

_The fated time draws near._

_I am your judgment._

_I sundered the tongues of your fathers_

_And shattered their arrogant power._

_So long as the Lord does not live in you,_

_All living beings hold darkness in there hearts._

_If you truly wish to be yourself,_

_Then rise and fight the darkness within…_

_The demon inside._

_If you have the will to challenge_

_Your destiny of battle, Son of Man,_

_State your name._

The dream felt so real, but who was speaking to me? I couldn't see them? My name? My name is… _Kazuya Minegishi._

_We have heard you, and are pleased._

_As He proclaimed…_

_This world, created in seven days,_

_Shall be destroyed by the sounding of Seven Trumpets._

_You who have a will,_

_Fear the numbers your eyes shall see._

_Fear the time left…_

The bell jolted me from my dream, the teacher's announcement brought me back to reality.

"Even though its summer break that doesn't mean you can take a break from being good role models. You're dismissed."

The student spoke next. "Rise". Shaking off my exhaustion I rose with the rest of the class. "Bow." After doing so, the class was officially over and everyone started chatting amongst themselves.

"Hey! Kazuya," The girls voice called me from the other side of the class, quickly approaching.

"Ah, hello Yuzu," She had probably caught me napping; hopefully she wouldn't say anything about it.

"Summer vacation starts tomorrow, do you have any plans?" It wasn't what I had thought; actually, I was surprised I hadn't considered that option. I actually hadn't really planned for summer at all.

"No. I don't have any plan's yet." I answered honestly, Atsuro seemed to be sneaking up behind her but I ignored it. Let them have their fun.

"I'm going to be working on my computer over the summer," He spoke up suddenly, catching Yuzu completely off guard.

"Ah! Atsuro! Where did you come from? If you keep sneaking around like that people will get the wrong impression."

"Well if Yoohoo gets so worked up over it, I should try harder next time." He snickered.

"Don't call me Yoohoo!" She yelled, drawing attention to herself. "Call me by my name, you know its your fault, everyone thinks my name is Yoohoo! My name is Yuzu! Jerksuro"

"Yoohoo's being mean!" He was fairly good at acting sad.

"Stop calling me Yoohoo! You're the mean one!" It was such a typical act between the two of them. I couldn't help but laugh, it was so like them to fight like this. "Why are you laughing!?"

"Tell her to stop. I'm not an idiot!" He proclaimed.

"At least he doesn't have to deal with the problem. That's probably why he's laughing."  
"That's because there's no harm in it." I chuckled.

"Oh that reminds me, have you heard from Naoya?" He asked, almost out of the blue. Not that I was surprised, Naoya was the number one topic that Atsuro spoke of.

"Naoya? No I haven't heard from him lately." He had been busy lately with some project, and on top of that he had moved out about a year ago.

"But you were in contact with him recently, weren't you?" Yuzu seemed surprised that I hadn't been in contact with him lately, I didn't think we seemed that close.

"Yeah he's probably busy being an administrator, and he moved away last year so I haven't been in contact with him for a little while; besides if he planned to visit me he'd contact me first, and he hasn't even done that."

"That's too bad…" Atsuro was dejected I couldn't blame him, but at the same time couldn't hide my curiosity.

"Why, is there something wrong?" It was probably just a programming question, but it never hurt to check, I'd hate to make him miss anything that might be important.

"I ran into a problem with the program I got from Naoya, but he wasn't picking up his cell. But I guess it makes sense if he was busy with his work, after all he's quite well known as a genius programmer. I'm sure a lot of people want to hire him." The admiration in his voice was obvious, but at the same time there was a bit of jealousy. Who could blame him? Naoya was living his dream, while we were stuck here in school. Speaking of which…

"Jeez, Otakuro how long do you plan to keep us at school?" Yuzu spoke my thoughts without batting an eye, she was probably sick of hanging around school.

"That's true." He shook himself out of his worship mode. "Where do you want to go? It's hot so I don't really want to go far."

"Then how about ice cream?" She suggested with an excited tone. "I definatly want some ice cream before we do anything else."

"That sounds like as good a start to summer as any." Doing anything while we were hot wouldn't be fun anyway, and ice cream would stop them from bickering for a while.

"Can you not get that chocolate mint ice cream again?" Atsuro finished packing up his things.

"Wha- But it's delicious!"

"You must be joking! How can you find that combination even edible!"

"That's why Otakuro can't get a girlfriend." She retorted as I bit back a laugh.

"Shush!" I couldn't say if it was directed at her or myself, but I feigned innocence as I picked up my bag and started going a bit ahead of them. It was a good start to the summer, hopefully the carefree days would continue; but the dreams words came back to me.

_Fear the time left. _It seemed so ominous… And the days are peaceful.


	4. Chapter 3

This was going to be my last time in this office. I had cleared almost all of my work from the computer, and designated a COMP for which the program was to be based. The Maiden once again had come to my office, even though it wasn't necessary to watch my progress anymore, I still had to show her the finalized product. "Has the Shomonkai Maiden come to see the finished product herself?"

"Thank you for all your hard work, but… please call me Amane. After all, even though you work for us, our progress thus far would not have happened without your assistance." She was truly humble, almost sickeningly so.

"The Demon Summoning Program is complete, the COMP's have been remodeled, and the Summoning Vessel's adjustments have been completed, so my work is done."

"You've done so much for us. I thank you, on behalf of the Shomonkai as well." She bowed her head.

"You don't need to thank me. I took this job because it interested me, and I actually enjoyed my work this time. Your goal is the revival of Belberith, correct? You'll have a ways to go before you can accomplish that, all I've done is put you on the right track." I had to treat them well; after all they were my greatest pawns.

"I am aware that we of the Shomonkai still have a long road ahead of us, and it would be inconsiderate to bring you any farther into this after all you've done for us." Her apologies were starting to sicken me; she made it sound as if I had done this against my will. But at least she got the point.

"So long as you understand that much. Excuse me." I finished packing up my things and opened the door to the office, taking my leave.

"The Demon Summoning Program… This means we can finally proceed!" She seemed to be speaking to herself, but I knew what was coming. "Will you continue to lend us your aid?"

I stopped halfway down the hall. "My aid? I've done all I can. They called for that girl, Aya, and she was the basis of the research. However, now that the system is complete, what you want is a programmer…" I chuckled at her surprise. "Or… are you saying I have something more to offer?" She was silent, either she knew better or didn't want to tell me something I shouldn't know. "Regardless, I am not fond of God, and have no desire to be involved in your schemes."

"What do you intend to do now?" She asked.

"I wasn't aware that was my former employers business. But, I have many things I wish to do. For now, I think I'll go for a walk and stretch my legs; all those hours in the office are getting to me." I left her alone in the empty office.

* * *

"Excuse me. Do you know where I could find the Shomonkai meeting place?" He was a bit older than me. Standing a few inches taller then I was, with brown hair. He appeared to be a businessman of sorts, wearing a beige suit.

"I'm sorry? Do you have business with the Shomonkai?" His knowledge that they were even here surprised me. However his reason for asking for them was all too obvious, he would make a good pawn. "Do you desire to obtain a COMP? Because you won't get them from the Shomonkai, they are being distributed only to high ranking members."

"You seem to know a great deal about them. Are you by chance Naoya? The one who helped with the programming?" Oh? That was a surprise, he knew about me? He must have been hired by a private company; it was only natural that they would have heard of it. We had been working on the project for several months.

"Indeed I am Naoya Minegishi. Who might you be? To be asking me such questions without introducing yourself."

"Ah. My apologies. My name is Yasuyuki Honda." He introduced himself quickly, but formally. He had good manners, and a professional sense about him.

"The COMP you're looking for is currently useless. I can assure you, the COMP's your employer is looking for will be available to you in a few days time." I told him exactly what he needed to hear to make him stay. The COMP in my pocket wasn't for him anyway.

"My employ-" He looked taken aback, I had been right then. "But I can't wait!"

"I'm afraid you have little choice. I don't know why you accepted such a job, and I don't care. But if you want to do what you were paid for you'll have to find a COMP in a few days. You'll know when the time is right."

"The time?" He looked confused. I had wasted enough of my breath. As a good a pawn as this man might be; he needed to pave his own way, just as I had. I had one more place to go, he could decide what he wanted on his own.

* * *

The boy was being chased, but I didn't intervene, I wanted to see for myself what he was going to do. It was obvious he had taken the burden of protecting those kids onto himself, but they had fled the moment the bullies had started to chase him. Typical cowards. He was exhausted as he finally started to slow down; it had been an impressive chase. But it was going to end as expected.

"Don't make us run after someone like you." The first bully shoved him.

"If only you'd just given us your money, then we wouldn't have had to hurt you." The second punched him in the face, sending him onto the ground.

"Hmph. What an idiot. Acting as a distraction even though you're so weak," the first kneeled down to get closer, and spat in his face. "You should know your place is down here. That's where you belong."

"Let's go. I'm sick of this." The second started to walk, the first quickly to follow.

"Damn it… Dammit." The boy punched the ground. I had seen enough. "DAMN IT"

"It hurts doesn't it?" I asked him, being sprawled on the ground, after giving everything you had. I knew the feeling all to well. "Do you desire power?" He looked shocked, surprised at my sudden appearance. "Then I'll give you this." I dropped the COMP inf ront of him.

Picking it up, he opened it, examining it. "A game system?" He looked up at me expectantly. But I had already turned my back on him.

"No… It's power. And how you use it, is your decision." I answered his look; I wasn't going to help him up. He would have to pull himself up, or drag those who put him there down. I left him there, to consider what I had offered.

"Ah! Wait!" He called for me but I ignored him, just close enough to hear the word. "Power…?"

_First, is something like this... what you all have obtained is power, _I chuckled in anticipation. _Now then... it's starting…_


	5. Chapter 4

I have got a few questions regarding my means of going about this fanfic. The first thing I'd like to cover is the plot. I will confess I have been being vague about the plot as a whole, however this wasn't without meaning. To be clear, the events in Naoya's chapters will be explained later in Kazuya's chapters. As a rule, I hope to swap characters every other chapter.

For the second issue, people say that I have been focusing on Devil Survivor too much, and are beginning to doubt the authenticity of this Persona/Devil Survivor cross over. Though persona IS involved, it won't be the main focus until a little later on in the facfic. I do apologize, but I do need pace the plot or I'll lose it.

* * *

I sighed; it had been a long week, Atsuro was busy with a new program Naoya had given to him after summer vacation had started, and Yuzu had gone to a concert by Haru, so neither of them had really been in contact. Naoya had always kept things fun in the house, until he moved out, and started his programming. I chuckled, even though he had only just started programming there was something different about him. Almost as if he was searching for something, and then recently, right before he moved out, a light bulb when off. Before I could finish that thought my phone started to vibrate on my desk, I flipped it open.

"Naoya?" It was strange for him to call me personally, "Is something the matter?"  
"'Is something wrong?' Is there something wrong with me calling my cousin?" His voice sounded the same as ever, for some reason I'd been anxious ever since I'd had that dream on the last day of school. "I was just checking if you wanted to get together later today."

"Get together?" It had been a long time since we had last actually hung out. "Do you mind if I invite Yuzu and Atsuro?" It wouldn't be a bad idea to get together; and being alone with Naoya had gotten uncomfortable lately. He was always watching me, as if expecting me to do something extraordinary. "Atsuro's probably been holed up in his house for the last week, and I'll never hear the end of it if I don't invite Yuzu."

"Certainly, I was going to check if they were able to come anyway. Atsuro will require some help with that programming around now anyway." His voice sounded amused, he must have been looking forward to this.

"I'll call them-"

"I already contacted Atsuro, he said he was available today, and so was Yuzu when he called me back." As sharp as ever, but it was odd for him to arrange a meeting with such short notice.

"This afternoon?" I could almost hear him chuckle over the line.

"Yeah, at 901, about 3? Can you make it?" 901? It was only 1:30 now.

"Sure I can be there. Do you have anything in mind?" Knowing him he wouldn't tell me until we got there anyway. "Never mind, I'll find out when we get there anyway."

"I might be a bit late. I have to drop something off for my previous employer. I'll talk to you then." He hung up the phone, leaving me to stare at it. Something for his previous employer? Today was full of strange events; Naoya never forgot anything when he left a job. I pulled my headphones over my head, standing up and stretching. "I'm heading out to meet up with Naoya. I'll be back later tonight." I called throughout the house, before locking the door behind me.

* * *

I managed to get there a bit early; the time had only just reached 2:45. I really hadn't wanted to get here too early cause of the heat, but it couldn't be helped now. There was still a hint of unease in the air, maybe it was the sheer lack of people who had left for summer, or maybe I was just being paranoid.

"Hey over here!" Atsuro called me from a bench where he'd been working on his computer, he was never anywhere without it. "How has your summer been? It feels like it's been forever since we usually meet at school."

"His timing was perfect as always. I was just running out of things to do, although I do wish it were a little cooler."

He chuckled, "I know what you mean. I didn't have anything to do, so I spent most of the week on my laptop. But I just ran into a problem with that program he gave me, I was just going to call him for help when he contacted me." I bit back a laugh; Naoya knew Atsuro's skill level well, it was almost scary and made me wonder how well he knew me.

"There you are!" Yuzu approached us from a little ways off. "I've been looking for you guys."

"Hey Yoohoo!" Atsuro called out to her. I missed these days, I always liked going to school, but summer vacation had its advantages too.

"Don't call me "Yoohoo"! My name is Yuzu! It's you're fault people at school think my name IS 'Yoohoo'!" It was true, some of the teachers at school even thought her name was Yoohoo.

"Oh it's not that bad, it's a friendly nickname. You know, it's not just our class right? Some people in school actually think your name is 'Yoohoo'."

"That's because people like you keep calling me that!" She turned to me, as if hoping I would jump in for her defense. I'd learned a long time ago not to get involved in their friendly squabbles, but they were quite entertaining. "You should follow Kazuya's example! He always calls me by my proper name."

That was probably my call to jump in, but I decided not to get involved. "Where is Naoya?" Sure he said he'd be late but it was already 3:20 and late for him was only a few minutes.

"Huh…?" She seemed surprised at the sudden change of topic. "Naoya… Oh! That's right he said something had come up, and he wouldn't be able to make it."

"He told you that?" Something was wrong, he never made plans with that short notice, and when he did he wouldn't miss them.

"Ah yes, I caught him as he was leaving the area. He told me to give Atsuro and you these." Atsuro looked disappointed.

"I can't believe Naoya stood us up." Trust me Atsuro you aren't the only one. I wondered what had been so important.

"He gave you something to give us you said?" I couldn't hide my curiosity; Naoya's gifts always had a certain flair to them.

"Yeah, here." She started rummaging through her bag and pulled out 3 game systems. "He said 'you'll be needing these, so don't lose them'."

"We'll be needing game systems?" That was an odd thing to say. But these were COMP's after all, cell phones were probably the only electronic device that was ahead of them.

"There those… Communication Players? Aren't they?" Yuzu seemed proud of herself for remembering. She wasn't much of a gamer so I didn't blame her.

"Oh? You've heard of them Yoohoo? Communication Player is a real mouthful so people just call them COMP's." He had started looking through the system menu with a surprised look on his face. "Did he homebrew this? This menu is nothing like the one I have at home."

"What's the matter?" Yuzu was trying to look over his shoulder, but she wouldn't be able to make heads or tails of it anyway. "Do you mean he made that himself? Is that even possible?"

"Oh this is nothing for him. Didn't you know? He's a genius among us programmers." Atsuro started worshipping Naoya again, I couldn't help but chuckle. The life of a programmer was hard when you were constantly in someone elses shadow. I'd been in his for just about everything else. "Hmm… this file is locked."  
"Locked? You mean we can't open it?" She sounded disappointed, but it was indifferent to her. I knew better though.

"Why don't we just crack it?" I suggested to Atsuro, he was already connecting the COMP to his computer.

"Haha, of course! Good thing I brought my computer along. " He chuckled as he started typing. This was where he was most comfortable; the world of technology was his domain. Of course, at the top of the food chain was Naoya.

"H-hey! Wait, Atsuro!"

"Don't worry, he knows what he's doing," I told her, "besides, aren't you curious what's inside the folder?"

"But he's hacking it! Won't Naoya be angry?" Her eyes were full of worry, I couldn't blame her, if I didn't know Naoya as well as I did, I probably would be stopping him too.

"It's not that big a deal. Think of it like a greeting between programmers." He'd done this to other people he'd met on the net, he'd send them encrypted greetings, that they were supposed to crack.

"Are you sure?" She still wasn't convinced.

"Naoya's my teacher, if he sent it to me, he wants me to crack it. It's his way of saying hello." Atsuro explained. Of course, that's pretty much what I had just said. "He wants me to crack his encryption."

"Well why can't he just say 'hello' like a normal person?" But our argument had won her over at least, she wasn't asking us to stop anymore.

"What's his encryption scheme this time?" He was paying more attention to the screen then us.

"Oh jeez, only you would find something like this exciting, Atsuro."

"There we go!" He handed us our COMP's. "Its not finished, but at least you can check your email."

"Huh? You mean we already have mail?" I glanced at the inbox. A single unread message was already there.

**From: The Observer**

**Subject: Laplace Mail**

"Wh-What is this?"


	6. Chapter 5

**From: The Observer**

**Subject: Laplace Mail**

**Good Morning. Here is today's NEWS.**

**At around 16:00, a man will be killed in a Shibuya-ku Aoyama apartment. The wounds on the corpse are consistent with an attack by a large carnivorous beast.**

**A large explosion will occur in Minato-ku Aoyama at 19:00. The cause is unknown.**

**At 21:00, a black out will affect the entire Tokyo metropolitan area.**

**Have a nice day.**

Yuzu must have finished reading it around the same time I had, because I could hear her mumbling to herself. "A man will be killed at 4 o'clock!? He'll be attacked by…" She dropped her voice and stopped speaking.

"A carnivorous beast…" I finished for her, this was defiantly unnatural; although it said that this was today's news, none of this had happened. "The way it's written is strange, it's kind of creepy."

"Its even creepier how it's written off handedly." Yuzu replied, but Atsuro was only starting to look back up.

"Hmm… they also predicted a black out… it says it's today's news but none of this has happened yet." He seemed to mauling things over. "I wonder if this is code for something. It's the only reason I can think of that he would lock it. Aoyama is close to Naoya's place, but that's probably not important."

"Atsuro, that's enough." I was surprised to hear Yuzu jump in, she usually kept quiet about things he did if it was directed at her. "This probably some prank from Naoya cause he knew you would crack the lock on it."

"I don't know, Naoya has amazing foresight; and I doubt he'd set something like this up just to trick us."

"Oh believe me. Naoya has his own brand of humor." I chuckled; he'd done similar things to me in the past.

"Well I can't say for certain yet, so I'm going to check the rest of these files. It's a bit too crowded here, so I'll call you when I'm done. Is that alright?" Atsuro offered, but I knew it was more of a signal that he needed time alone.

"Sure, I'll take my COMP with me. Yours should be all you need right?" I made sure before I took it, I didn't want to interfere with his work.

"Of course, you can take them. I only need one."

"Great, lets go Kazuya." I almost laughed. Yuzu had wanted to do something other then sitting around talking about my cousin obviously.

"Fine. Fine, I'm coming." I grabbed her COMP as she started to tug me away. We probably didn't need them, but Naoya had been specific. _Don't lose them_. And coming from him that probably meant keep them on you at all times.

* * *

"So what do you want to do?" She asked me after dragging me for a number of blocks. _I don't know, I thought you had something in mind. _That's what I had planned to say, but something caught my eye.

"And lo, with the discovery of the Internet, Mankind has surpassed the trial of Babel, sent by God; but this displeases him, and the smiting of Babel returns!" I started to approach the group, but the people around him blocked me; all wearing orange hooded outfits.

"I'm sorry, may I pass?" I asked, I didn't appreciate being so rudely shoved aside.

"If you have any questions, please direct them at one of us." The man spoke to me quietly as if trying to sound holy.

"If I wanted to ask you, I would have. Now please excuse me." He stood firm though, in such a way that it grated on my nerves.

"Kazuya! What are you doing?" Yuzu started tugging me away from the before they made me do something stupid.

"I was trying to speak to the man who was giving his 'speech'." That much had to be obvious.

"You're interested in this sort of thing?" Truth be told I was, but she didn't seem too pleased.

"Your not?" I turned to listen to more of what he said, but it seemed I missed the better part of his speech, now he was simply going on about the 'power of the internet' and 'Gods trial'. But he did say that the 'Shomonkai' would be in the area for the next few days. I'd probably get a chance to speak to him later if he made another appearance.

"Let's just go, this is boring." I sighed, she wasn't very opened minded. It was a sad thing.

"Okay, what do you want to do?" I mean if she didn't have any ideas I'd be up for just sticking around for a while longer.

"Well we could go to a movie, or do some karaoke." She listed off a few suggestions.

"Don't forget we have to be somewhere we can use our cell phones…" Something was bothering me. I tried to remember what it was. "We should go see Naoya, I want to make sure everything's alright."

"Hmm? Oooh are you talking about that email? Its just a prank don't worry about-" She was cut off by the police sirens, followed quickly by police cars moving towards Aoyama.

"It could just be a coincidence, but I want to be sure, Naoya lives in that apartment. It's possibly he's the one that was mentioned in the mail." I was already heading over to the apartment.

"That's right! I didn't even consider that. I'm so sorry Kazuya."

* * *

The building was already sealed off by the time we got there, the police had set up the 'CAUTION' tape around the entire premise of the building. I approached one of the police officers. "Excuse me. Did you happen to see a male about this tall, around the age of 24? He has silver hair and usually wears a kimono when he's at home."

"A silver haired young man? I believe I saw him earlier, he had just been leaving before we got here."

I thanked the officer and told Yuzu what he had said. "Well your cousin is safe at least." She seemed genuinely relieved.

"I'm sorry for scaring you." It was only right to apologize, it had been my rushed thinking that had thought he might have been the one who was attacked.

"Oh? What are you guys doing here?" The familiar voice seemed different from usual. It seemed hard to believe, but we must have surprised him by coming here.

"We came to check on you because of that email you sent us." I explained how I had thought that he might have been the one who was attacked.

"Ah. Of course the email, I'm sorry for worrying you. The student who was eaten was in the apartment next to mine, but I'm alright." He explained.

"He… he was eaten!? But that would mean…"

"The email predicted the future…" Naoya didn't seem surprised by the event, but at the same time, he didn't seem like he had done it either.

"Oh? Your thought process never ceases to amaze me. Most people would assume that the person who sent the email committed the crime." He chuckled. "You might as well be my brother, but our meeting here was an accident. You must find Atsuro as soon as you can, it's going to begin soon. Even if you ignore everything else I say, I want you to listen to this much at least. Do not turn away from what is about to happen. No matter what happens, find the strength to stand up and fight against it. Only then will you be able to overcome your fate" After he tried to ingrain those words in our minds, he looked away as if it didn't matter to him, and I knew that the conversation was over.

"Yuzu, asking any more questions now would be pointless. We should do as he says." I was more curious about what was actually going on then Naoya's part in it. Naoya always had odd things happening around him and he always seemed to be up to something, but his intentions were always for the good of the people who were involved.

"But I wanted to ask him more about what he meant. What did he mean 'It's going to begin soon'?" My guess was as good as hers. But she didn't have the chance to ask, because when we looked back up he was already disappearing into the crowd.

"Too late now." I muttered as I took out my phone. Calling Atsuro would have been the best course of action at the time, but I was a step behind because my phone rang just as I was about to dial. I checked the caller ID and found out it was Atsuro. His timing was almost as good as Noaya's. "Hello Atsuro. Did you manage to crack the COMP?"

"_Actually I think Naoya must have know that I was going to try to crack one by myself, it turns out that I'll need both Yuzu and your COMP's to finish what I started. Could you hurry? My laptops almost dead and I didn't bring my charger."_ He seemed elated that he had managed to crack Naoya's code so quickly. Even I had to admit it was quite the achievement, most coders would take months to crack an encryption made by Naoya, and yet Atsuro had managed to do it 2 hours. "_Can you meet me in front of the Electric Museum in Shibuya?_"

"Sure, we'll be over there in a bit." I shut the phone. "Atsuro seems to have figured out something on his end, so we should probably meet up with him."

"I'm still curious about what Naoya said though. Couldn't we look for him?"

"That would be a waste of time. He made it clear that he wouldn't answer any more questions, and our only lead right now are those COMPs he left with us." As much as I agreed with tracking him down, it was pointless until we found out more about these COMPs.

"You have a point. Okay. Lets go."

* * *

Atsuro was already pacing by the time we got there. "Jeez, how far did you guys go exactly when you were killing time."

"We didn't originally plan to go that far, some organization called the… 'Shomonkai', was having a little gathering a little way from 901. But we got sidetracked by police cars heading to Aoyama."

"Aoyama. You don't mean to tell me that email came true do you?" He seemed skeptical, and I didn't blame him, I still was.

"I can't say for sure yet, I mean 1 out of 3 still has the possibility to be a coincidence.

But if the other 2 come true I won't have much of a choice but to believe that they are coming true."

"I see what you mean, the blackout and the explosion still haven't occurred yet, so the juries still out on whether the email really was predicting the future." He seemed to be thinking, "You should have called me up, I had a few questions I wanted to ask him."

"I'm sorry Atsuro, even if I had remembered to call you, Naoya wasn't going to answer anymore questions. That's part of the reason we came right back. Our only lead right now are those COMP's.

"Ah that's right. Naoya put a special function on these COMPs so you can't tinker with one by itself. They're always monitoring each other in such a way that it's impossible to crack one alone. It would be better to think of them each as different parts of one machine; if you take one out, it doesn't work."

"Slow down. I can't keep up. Not all of us can keep up when it comes to computers." I personally had thought it was easy to follow, but she wasn't into anything technological, I was surprised she even had a phone.

"Same ol' Yoohoo. Pretty much I need your COMPs in order to break the encryption." He summed it up for her. They got along so well it was almost funny.

"Ah, never mind. I don't even want to try. Just do it already." She had a point we really didn't need to know how it worked if he told us what to do. He took our COMPs and started to fiddle with them a bit. I had the oddest feeling that we were being watched, so I took a quick look around and saw someone who looked like Naoya watching us from just far enough that I questioned his identity. But I could see enough of his face to know that his personality was far different from the Naoya I knew, it was cold and expressionless, not at all like the serious young man I had grown up with.

"Okay here you go, if you turn it on now it should be unlocked." He explained. Pulling me away from the man who was watching us, by the time I looked back up he was gone. "Kazuya!"

"I'm sorry, pardon?" I looked back towards Atsuro. "I thought I saw someone I knew." He didn't need to know that Naoya was watching us.

"Okay we need to start up our COMPs at the same time." I hit the power of the COMP.

**Co****MMUNICATION PLAYER**

The main menu popped up, but most of the files were empty, the only file that seemed to be available was the mail. I tried to click on it but it didn't seem to be available at the moment. "Atsuro, I think you might need to take another-" The screen went black.

**DECRYPTION CONFIRMED.**

**BOOTING PROGRAM.**

The programming code started going the moment those words had appeared on the screen. What program? "Atsuro. What did you do!?" I tried to turn the machine off but it wouldn't respond as the lines of coding continued to fly down the screen.

…**CONDITION GREEN.**

_**DEMON SUMMONING PROGRAM**_** READY TO BOOT.**

**BOOTING D**_**EMON SUMMONING PROGRAM**_**.**

The screen went black again. What the hell kind of program had Naoya made Demon summoning? There were a few more lines that flew up the screen, I wasn't sure how but they seemed to flow into my mind, so I could clearly read them.

_God's Righteousness Upheld_

_3:1 Then what advantage has the Jew?_

_Or what is the value of circumcision?_

_2. Much in every way._

_To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God._

_3. What if some were unfaithful?_

_Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God?_

_4. By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar._

_So it is written;_

"_That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged."_

_5. But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God. What shall He say?_

_6. And why not do evil that good may come?- as some people Slanderously charge us with saying, their condemnation is just._

_No one is Righteous._

_7. What then?_

_Are we Jews [1] any better off? [2]_

_No. Not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin._

_8. As it is written:_

The code slowed down to a speed I could easily read it.

"_None is righteous, no, not one;_

Then it went black, as the words started to type across the screen.

_**Peaceful days died**__._

_**Let's Survive**_.

The words lit up, becoming blindingly bright, I couldn't even hold onto the COMP anymore; I heard 3 clacks as we all dropped them, rubbing our eyes. And we watched as creatures began to claw there way out of the screens of the devices.

"Monsters came out of the COMPs!?" Atsuro shouted in surprised. They appeared from the COMPs which caused us to move farther from each other.

"Aaaah! What is this!?" Yuzu was freaking out. I'd read a book about demons before... I had already pieced together what they wanted. There were 3 demons, and 3 of us. The wolf like demon with a club came out of my COMP, the cat like demon came out of Atsuro's and the fairy like demon came out of Yuzu's. They were silent for a few second, as if they were stretching, and they watched us carefully.

"Grey hair has no respect." The pixie complained. "I thought I was going to suffocate in that device he shoved me into." Its eyes fell on Yuzu a smile playing on its lips. "You must be the human who summoned me. We will fight, then! If I win you will grant me my freedom!"

The gray haired human; did they mean Naoya? I saw him, standing upon the roof not that far away. _So this is your game Naoya? Fine then. I'll play._


	7. Chapter 6

Kazuya had spotted me earlier so I had to move to higher ground, but from atop this building it was far easier to see the battlefield anyway. With my computer out, I began to analyze the coming battle; the demons that emerged from the COMPs clearly had decided which targets they would choose. Kazuya would get Kobold, the wolf Demon; Yuzu would get the Pixie, while Atsuro got Kabuso, the cat demon. The numbers floating over there heads had already vanished by the time I reached my vantage point, but knowing Kazuya they'd have no trouble with something at this level.

"Now then, show me what you are capable of." I turned on the temporary transmitter I stuck to Yuzu's bag, it would only last another hour, but that would be plenty to hear where this battle was going.

"Monster!? Monsters came out of the COMPs!" Atsuro's voice was the first I heard, his surprise was natural if somewhat unneeded. I assessed that he would be the one to get used to after Kazuya, who already seemed prepared.

"What's going on?" Yuzu was the only one who seemed completely freaked out by what had just happened, she was the one with the most closed mind and the least will to fight.

"Grey hair has no respect." I chuckled at the pixies words, I suppose it was rude to summon them and then shove them into COMPs but I had to be sure which demons would emerge from the COMPs I gave them. I couldn't have them dying from something like this. "You must be the human who summoned me. If I win the fight then you will grant me my freedom!"

Yuzu simply started running away from the demon, batting it with her bag every time it got close to her, but after the second hit, the transmitter came loose and landed by the COMP's. Yuzu got hit by a Zio spell; causing her to collapse, and the pixie started to mock her weakness.

"YUZU!" Atsuro tried to run towards her to help, but was quickly blocked by Kabuso.

"Where do you think you're going, human?" It tackled him to the ground, and Atsuro tried to get back up before it hit him with the fire spell Agi. "Oh? Your pretty strong for a human!" It complimented the fact that he was still getting up. Of course, it wasn't his doing at all.

Despite the fact that both Atsuro and Yuzu were on their last legs, I wasn't concerned for their fights at all. The only fight that concerned me was the fight between Kazuya and Kobold; directing my attention towards that fight.

Kazuya wasn't doing too badly, but that was being nice, the Kobold had him pinned(,) backing into one of the pedestrian railings before it closed in for the strike, slamming its club into his rib cage. Under normal circumstances that would have shattered them, and probably incapitated him, but because of the Harmonizer function, something that balanced the damage between Demons and Humans to make survival more possible, the damage was minimized.

"Is that all you have human?" The top pipe had broken off of the railing and was just in arms reach of Kazuya, but he couldn't see it from where he was, especially since that last blow had knocked the wind out of him. "Eating humans is so much fun. But they don't present much of a challenge. What's that smell?" It started rummaging through the garbage, pulling a bag of food out of it. "Human food?" It sat down and stuck its nose in the bag, momentarily distracted from Kazuya.

Unfortunately Kazuya didn't know how to use the COMP yet, he'd need Atsuro to explain it to him before he could access the skill function, but that pipe would help out with that part. He picked up the pipe and moved towards the demon, smashing it upside the head with the blunt end, getting its attention like a damned fool. He could have shoved the pipe through its heart or its jugular for maximum damage, But something happened, my laptop had started to respond to spell energy; that was… _Impossible, an Agi spell? _The fire started from the side of its head where the pipe had made contact and worked its way along its entire being, engulfing it in flame.

"Hahahahah! You are strong human! I like that. I am Kobold, a demon of war. When a human defeats a demon, the contract is formed. I will serve as your demon from this point on." Impossible was good, it meant he had succeeded, the fire that surrounded the demon, went out as the demon returned to the COMP.I couldn't quite hear what it said next, however it was most likely telling Kazuya to summon it.

"His rate of growth is extraordinary. You might want to reinput those figures." The man spoke from behind me in a playful tone. I suppose I couldn't have everything I wanted, he wore a purple suit but on him it looked simply casual. I pulled my attention back to the numbers on the screen, he was right however, the numbers were wrong. At this rate, 7 days would be plenty of time.

"You're an eye sore. Go away." As 'helpful' as his input was, he was in the way of my work. I started inputting new figures, if Kazuya had become this strong from one fight how strong would he become? I turned around, just in time to see the man vanish in front of my eyes. "And stay away from Kazuya."

Kazuya's summoning of Kobold grabbed my attention once more, this fight was over far quicker then the first one. Kazuya summoned a bolt of fire, blasting Kabuso away in a single blow. That was proof enough that he had mastered the Skill function, his demon on the other hand, smashed the Pixie into the ground.

"I was defeated by humans!? Nonononono!" The pixie seemed to be throwing a tantrum as it glared at Yuzu. "I'm not following you because I want to!" It disappeared into the COMP at the same time as Kabuso.

His strength had spiked again, it was amazing, this was all the proof I needed to confirm my suspicions; Kazuya was suited for battle. Yuzu on the other hand started freaking out the moment the demons disappeared. "That was scary! Atsuro! What did you do!?"

The rest of the conversation had started to become static, the battery on the transmitter must have been low because I could barely make out what they were saying, I glanced at the time and realized it was almost 19:00 hours. Double-checking the Laplace mail, I confirmed that the explosion would be occurring soon; and then right on schedule, the explosion sounded off by the cemetery. My work was done for now, regarding the 3 of them, I had to get back to my apartment and analyze the data I had received so I could challenge Kazuya appropriately for the days to come. "Stay alive my brother. In the coming days, you will face hardship and things that may seem impossible. But stand up and face them, and you shall prevail."

* * *

I apologize for the short chapter after the long wait, but I plan to make up for it with the next one. I hadn't actually intended to do a Naoya chapter for a little bit because the chapter itself would be really short, however the next Kazuya chapter will be quite long, so I hope you'll forgive me.


	8. Chapter 7

To verify your questions in regards to the authenticity as a Persona/Devil Survivor Crossover. I did mean what I said when it would be coming later. However, later is sooner then I had thought. I will be introducing Persona to this fanfic in the next chapter.

* * *

The demon from my own COMP returned to the data space that it originated from after helping me save Yuzu and Atsuro. However, things didn't stop there; the number 1 appeared over the heads of my friends. I couldn't stand yet so I just sat, hoping that I wasn't too injured to move later.

Yuzu was the first to speak, as I expected she was terrified. "We're still alive!? That was scary! What were those? What did you do Atsuro!?"

"I don't know either! The program booted itself when I undid the encryption!" Atsuro was starting to panic as well; he stopped realizing something else. "Kazuya, what did you do? You set that demon on fire."

"I'm not sure. But I think it was due to the COMP." I answered, but before I could explain further Yuzu rushed to my side.

"You're hurt!" I guess her panic had blinded her to my injury not that I minded, I didn't want her to worry too much. "Yuzu don't worry I'm fi-" I couldn't finish my sentence. Yuzu's hand had started to glow and my wounds started to disappear. "Yuzu you… healed me?"

"Huh?" She looked at me and realized my injuries had faded, her eyes widening. "But… all I did was wish your injuries disappeared."

"Hmm… Kazuya may not be to**o** far off base." Atsuro had already started to investigate the COMP's. "It appears that a number of other functions were unlocked when I cracked the encryption. The first was called the Demon Summoning Program, which as we saw summoned those demons. According to its programming only the initial summoning results in a fight."

"That's just like Naoya. I'll bet that's why he was watching us." I muttered, something told me he hadn't left during our match, but had observed us.

"The other functions that it unlocked are quite interesting! The first is the harmonizer." The information instantly clicked.

"I see. So that's why the demons couldn't kill us." The harmonizer equalized the damage between humans and demons.

"What? What do you mean?" Yuzu was the farthest behind, still bewildered by her new found healing power.

"Allow me to explain," I took over; Atsuro had a bad habit of using terms Yuzu had no idea the meaning of. "You see Yuzu, the harmonizer function is somewhat of an equalizer. Under normal circumstances a demon would have no problem killing a human, they are just that powerful; however what the harmonizer does is lower the damage that a human might take from a demon. The difference of strength is then given to the human fighting the demon, which allows the human to survive where they would normally die. In other words, the more powerful the demon, the stronger the human gets." That was my theory anyway; I didn't hear any correction from Atsuro, so I presumed I was correct.

"So… this "harmonizer" makes it so the demons can't kill us as easily? But it makes it so we can fight them? What was Naoya thinking when he made this program?" Yuzu shuddered at the thought, probably of fighting another demon.

"But this is where it gets interesting. There is another function that goes hand in hand with the Harmonizer; the skill function allows us to use spells like you two did." He must have been referring to the fire I used, and the light Yuzu used to heal me. "The fire Kazuya used is called 'Agi', it's the lowest level fire spell judging by its description, and the light that Yuzu used to heal you is 'Dia'. We also have two other spells, 'Bufu' a low class ice spell and 'Zio' a low class lighting spell." He finished his explanation looking quite proud of himself for finding all of that out.

"But still! They're dangerous aren't they!?" She wasn't quite convinced we should keep them yet; I didn't blame her but I didn't think it was right to just give them up after an experience that proved there usefulness.

"Don't you trust Naoya? He did say to keep them." I didn't want to say it like that but she hadn't given me much choice.

"… You're right…" She was still hesitant but she wasn't going to throw it away anymore.

"Say Atsuro, what about the function that displays numbers over our heads?" I recalled as I saw my reflection in a window. The number over my own head read zero.

"What do you mean? I don't see any numbers." He looked confused, and if he was acting, he was doing a good job of it.

"There are numbers over everyone's heads. The people over there have a 7 over their heads, but you and Yuzu have a 1, I myself only have 0. Does the COMP say anything about that?" I had a bad feeling about this, _'Fear the numbers your eyes shall see'_ is what the voice had said.

"You look serious, but the COMP doesn't say anything about a function like that. I'd need more time to look into it though." He responded, he wasn't sure how to respond to such a question.

I had a feeling I knew a person who might. "We should go see Naoya. I doubt he'll still be at his apartment, but its better then doing nothing." I looked at the time on the COMP, 4 o'clock huh? "Even on a good day Naoya probably wouldn't be home yet."

"Sorry I didn't catch that last part." Atsuro called me on what I said.

"Sorry, just talking to myself. Lets go."

* * *

The police had completely closed off the building by the time we got there, but something else caught my attention.

"We'll never get to Naoya's apartment at this rate…" Atsuro was already complaining.

"I don't think we need to. Take a look at that." I pointed at his mailbox; it was stuffed to the point of overflowing. "We were lucky to see him, he probably hasn't been back to his apartment in weeks." Just as I finished, the email notification went off, it was from Naoya. "Speak of the devil and he appears." I mumbled, opening the email.

**From: NAOYA**

**Subject: Congratulations**

**Good job in mastering your COMPs. I figured the general confusion would be dying down by now.**

**Kazuya, you've probably figured out why I gave you three the COMPs. **

Atsuro and Yuzu both looked at me, but Atsuro was the one to ask. "You've figured it out?"

"I think he gave us these COMPs so that we could use the power of demons to survive." I answered, returning my eyes to the email.

**That's exactly right. If you want to survive you'll have to learn how to use them.**

I couldn't shake the feeling like I was actually having a conversation with him. Naoya always had the unique ability to know just about everything someone would do just from meeting them once, but this was the first time I'd seen it done to this extent.

**I don't have time for your senseless speculations. Head to Aoyama Cemetery. You'll meet a person who will influence your future there.**

The email ended there. "Should we do as he says?" Yuzu asked, I was surprised that she was asking and not just telling us not to go.

"I think so, Naoya's not trying to put us in danger. The fact that he put such safe guards in place proves that." I tried to think of other perspectives, but I couldn't think of anything unfavorable for following through his instructions.

"I think Kazuya's right. We should go Yuzu." Atsuro always had my side when it came down to tougher decisions, but that didn't necessarily mean I chose the right path.

"Are you sure?" I confirmed, if we died because I made a stupid choice it would be my fault.

"What? First you ask her? And now you're going to make me ask you?" He chuckled; I wasn't sure what he meant.

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't you trust Naoya?" He shot my words right back at me, clearing my doubts in all but an instant. I couldn't help but smile at that; he knew me so well.

"You're right. We should get going." We didn't have time to waste, there was no guarantee that the person would wait for us if they were anything like Naoya.

* * *

We had only hit the small wood surrounding the cemetery quarters when five o'clock hit, bringing with it true hell. We had just finished speaking about the skill function when I realized something had bothered me about the location of the meeting place. "Hey, did something happen at Aoyama recently?" I asked Atsuro, I felt like I was grasping straws.

"Hmm? Did it? I can't think of anything that happened recently in Aoyama." He continued thinking when it suddenly clicked.  
"Of course! The person there is in danger!" The email had predicted an explosion would occur in Aoyama at 5 o'clock.

"What do you me-" He was cut off by the explosion occurring, I checked the COMP, 19:05. Right on schedule; this couldn't just be a coincidence anymore, but there was still one more event to look forward to before we could be certain.

Movement in the woods caught my eyes, it was a person, and they too had the number 0 above their head.

"Atsuro! In the woods! Someone's running!" The orange uniform was familiar; they looked like one of the Shomonkai members who had been at the speech earlier. "I think it's a Shomonkai member!"

"What!? The Shomonkai?" I was surprised by his reaction but there wasn't time for that as the man burst from the woods, heavily wounded.  
"What are kids doing in a place like this!? You kids need to run before it's too late!" He seemed genuinely concerned for our safety, but I was more interested in the device in his hand; the device in his hand; my eyes torn from that to the monster that emerged from the woods, It was probably just a demon, but at the same time it was far larger than any of our three demons. It stood at least 8 feet tall covered in white fur, except for its stomach which was dark skinned and strong. Its hand was incased in what looked like ice, stabbing the man standing before us

"Run." He fell over, the number over his head fading away. He had to be dead, no one could have survived that, harmonizer or not.

"Yuzu! Atsuro! Run!" I had to stop it here; my only hope was that my theory about the Harmonizer was right. "Kobold!"

"What are you talking about!? Aren't you coming?" Yuzu yelled as I started to run towards the monster, summoning my own demon.

"More humans. You guys are weak. Not at all like that cursed woman from earlier." It outstretched its hand and Kobold solidified in a block of ice.

"Human… run… this guy is too strong." The ice shattered as the demon returned to the COMP. A single shot had destroyed my demon. It outstretched its hand again aimed for Yuzu and Atsuro.

"Humans who run should die." Without giving a thought to my actions, I shoved them out of the way, taking the hit myself; the pain quickly replaced by numbing cold. So long as the wound didn't thaw I could still fight.

It was preparing to launch another ice attack at us; '_The COMP skill'_. A voice? Where was it coming from? No that didn't matter**, **it was right; fire trumps ice. I launched a fireball at its face before it could get its own shot off. Not only did it take a step back, its own spell launched harmlessly into the air.

"Quickly now. Run." I ordered them, besides Atsuro's COMP was out of his reach so he couldn't help and Yuzu's Pixie would be useless in this fight. She was scared, but started to move away from the fight, just not out of sight**.**

"I'll… I'll find help! I'll be right back!" She yelled as she disappeared into the woods. That was right, the person who was going to help us should still be at the cemetery; my attention drawn back to the Wendigo as it laughed.

"Your flame is weak human." It blasted me with another shot of ice, barely grazing my arm as I started to run out of the way. All feeling in my left are was gone, it was probably a block of ice just like my demon now.

Just a little longer.

It took a step forward, only to be hit by another spell. But this one was…

"I won't let you take all the credit Kazuya." Atsuro laughed, "Atleast let me help out once in a while too." I could see his COMP a ways off. He must not have seen that this demon is strong against ice.

"Get back!" I shoved him out of the way as it fired a barrage at him. "You idiot. I told you to run! Fighting that thing with ice is like fighting fire with fire." That was it, my answer! Atsuro's demon had a fire spell. "Atsuro, go help Yuzu find help. I'll be fine. I just figured out how to beat this thing." And even if I hadn't I didn't want him to see what happened to me if I failed. He looked at me, his eyes were doubtful but he nodded.

"Stay safe Kazuya." He disappeared into the woods, the demon before me was distracted from me for just long enough to grab Atsuro's COMP. I couldn't stop myself from praying for it to work.

"Kabuso!" The cat demon appeared, and it turned to me.

"You're not my Master." It wasn't going to listen to me? I didn't have time for this.

"_That's too bad, you're going to listen to me anyway." _My voice took a tone that I had never meant to give in my impatience; but the demon froze as a feeling I had never experience welled up within me.

"Y-You're…" Its protests stopped right there, it seemed ready to obey me now.

"Are you ready to die?" The large demon had been waiting patiently for me, seeing that it could catch up to Atsuro if I were to fall.

One fire spell may not have been enough, but if we combined two then even this demon should take noticeable damage. "Kabuso use Agi with me!" I commanded, launching my own fire spell at it. "Blazing Burst!"

The Wendigo screamed in pain as the fire engulfed it. "HUMAN! I'll kill you!" Not enough? It jumped out of the fire, its hand incased in a blade of ice again. I wasn't fast enough; the pain that surrounded my stomach ebbed away into warmth. So… that's what the number was…

It displayed the number of days a person had left to live. I was meant to die today. At least Yuzu and Atsuro got away. _If you have the will to challenge your fate of battle, Son of Man, state your name._

I guess I didn't have enough will. _I'm sorry Atsuro… Yuzu._

My vision started to fade to black as their own numbers flashed before my eyes. "1".

That's right they were supposed to die tomorrow… tomorrow. And there was nothing I could do about it. No… I would stop it. Even if it meant going against the Gods themselves… _"I…"_

"You're still alive?" The demon seemed disgusted.

"_I can't die… You can't kill me. The one who's going to die…"_ I placed my hands on its face.

"Are you really human!?" For the first time fear in its voice, a tone that brought me great pleasure to bring out of such a being. Crushing its will with my own hands.

"_Is you! Blazing Burst" _I fired it off with both my hands instead of using a demon, it started to char my hands but that didn't matter anymore. "KABUSO! GARU!" I didn't know how I knew the spell name but I did. Blazing Burst fused with Wind was "Inferno". The spell surrounded us, burning me along with him as he shook me off his bladed hand, knocking me back as he was dragged to his knees. "I'll kill you!" My vision was already starting to fade, but I couldn't feel any pain. I tried to reach for my stomach but my hands wouldn't move. I was done; I didn't have any power left, even Kabuso had returned to its COMP due to my lack of energy.

The final blow was coming when I felt heat explode in front of me; followed by another scream of Wendigo, along with the blurring color red. "KAZUYA!" Yuzu was the first to my side. "Your… your stomach… and your hands…" I could barely lift my head, but I saw the girl who seemed to have brought forth the fire.

"Die Wendigo." She sent a more powerful form of my Agi spell, from which the wendigo retreated.

"I've memorized your scents humans! I won't forgive you for this! I'll kill you all, especially_ you_.**"** I could barely make out the fact that he was glaring at me as it disappeared into a blizzard.


	9. Chapter 8

The moment the demon disappeared, the air felt lighter; however my own problems had only just begun.

"STUPID!" Yuzu had started yelling at me. "What were you thinking?" I could see a faint light from her hands as she tried to heal me.

"No… don't. It's pointless; you'll just waste your energy." I tried to grab her hand, but it wouldn't move.

"I thought you said you could handle it, Kazuya." Atsuro had sat down beside me, "I never would have left if I knew you'd end up like this."  
"Don't be stupid Atsuro" I scolded him. "What difference could you have made? It would have been one more dead body to the count."

"I might have made a difference, how do you know what could have happened if I had stayed with you." He was angry with himself, I could tell that much just from his tone. I didn't need to see their faces.

"Atsuro, something's wrong! It… it won't heal. His hands… or his stomach." She was panicking and sounded as if she were on the verge of tears. "I can't heal him!"

"But… no that can't be! Try again!" I could feel her trying, but I knew it was a waste of time. I had pushed myself too far against that demon.

"Stop it." The unfamiliar female voice cut though the conversation as she approached me, "Back away from him. I know he's your friend, but I wish to speak to him alone."

"We don't even know you! How can we trust you?" Yuzu came to my defense first.

"No, Yuzu**,** do as she says. She's without a doubt the one Naoya spoke of in his email." I wanted to confirm her motives and make sure she took good care of my friends before I left them. I may not have been able to change my own fate, but I wanted to change theirs.

"Thank you." She knelt beside me and I could feel her examining my hands and my stomach. "You really need to care more for yourwell being. Your death clock only changed this time because I managed to get here on time." She explained to me. _Death clock? _What was she talking about? Did she mean the number? Is that what it was called?

"The number changed?" I couldn't explain the overwhelming dread I felt when I heard that. I could feel her hands on my chest and was almost overwhelmed by the urge to stop her.

"I'm sorry, could you come over here." She asked Yuzu, gesturing for her to come over. "Pay close attention to what I'm doing here. You lack the power to cast strong healing spells right now."

"I-Is now the best time to be teaching me how to heal him!? He could die!" Her voice peaked in her panic.

"No. Fate has already decided that he will live for another 3 days." Her effort to calm Yuzu down was in vain; I doubt she'd be calm until we went home tomorrow.

"Just do it. She's… just scared right now." I was more surprised that this girl was so calm; actually it was getting easier for me to see her face. She wore a strange orange robe, much like the Shomonkai members from earlier. Her hair was a lighter shade of violet, probably dyed, with a large flower decorating it. Her eyes were also purple, but they were quite subdued, and fairly difficult to read.

"Very well." I could feel the energy flow through me as her spell did its work. This one was far stronger then Yuzu's. My stomach started to itch after the feeling returned to my hands. I tried to reach to see what the damage was but she stopped me.

"The spell is repairing you're stomach, it'll take some time. Please don't touch it." Repairing my stomach? What was that supposed to mean? I tried to see, but I couldn't see my stomach. Taking longer then it probably should have, my mind realized that I had no stomach right now. I had a gaping hole where it was supposed to be.

She leaned forward and dropped her voice, something she didn't want the others to hear. "I felt the power you used earlier, the power to bend Demons to your will. It's a dark accursed power; I'm telling you this out of kindness. Don't use that power unless you have no other options left. It will bring you nothing but pain and ruin. I'd hate to see someone like you be consumed by that power." She pulled back, lifting her hands; apparently finished. She turned her attention to my friends. "I'm sorry. I haven't introduced myself, I am Amane Kazuryu."

"Oh! I'm sorry. I'm Yuzu Tanekawa." Yuzu bowed slightly, embarrassed that she had forgotten her manners.

"I'm Atsuro Kihara. Thank you for helping us." He both introduced himself and thanked her.

"I'm sorry, I'm Kazuya Minegishi." I could hopefully tell from her reaction of my guess that they were the ones who hired Naoya were right or not.

"Minegishi… I see." Her voice didn't give away much, but her statement did. "You're related to Naoya then? I'm presuming that's where you got you're COMPs from." She had let way more go then I had thought, she smiled briefly as I sat up. "Your face gives you away, you want to ask me if we're the ones who hired him to make the COMPs aren't you?"

I thought it over before nodding. "Yes. I wanted t-" I froze as the entire world turned black. The lights went out? No… "The email."

"But that's impossible!" Atsuro flipped open his phone, "No service either? What the hells going on!?"

I checked my own phone, but I knew it would be the same. Amane spoke up quickly after. "Things have changed a bit, I'm afraid I'm going to have to answer your questions another time." She stood up, "I'm going to chase Wendigo while I still have a chance to catch up. I've set up a barrier so as long as you stay here the demons won't be able to harm you."

"Stay… here? But this is a graveyard!" Yuzu was picking right back up again, I couldn't blame her; today had been a very hard day for us. Demons, black out, and now we had to stay in a cemetery?

"Yuzu. Just… bare with it, just for tonight, we'll all be here with you." I said trying to calm her down. "I'll take first watch." That way I could get some proper sleep.

"Are you sure? We can probably divide the watches in half." Atsuro suggested.

"No. I'll be fine. The healing Amane performed was good enough. Besides, I doubt I'll be able to sleep for a while. I have a lot of my mind."

"If you say so; just wake me up when you're tired." He stood up and parked himself against the barrier, playing with the COMP. I hoped he didn't fall asleep like that, he'd be in for a nasty surprise if it wore out while he was sleeping.

"Good night Yuzu." I smiled, as she moved towards the tree, closing her eyes. It had been a rough day for her**(comma here)** I hoped her dreams at least were good ones. I opened my COMP to check the time. Only 10:00… I could barely wrap my head around how much had occurred over the last 7 hours; demons and magic, clocks that could tell when you were going to die as well as an email that told you the future. I didn't even want to think about it right now, if I focused on watching maybe I could take my mind off of it for a while.

* * *

The hours had crawled by horribly slowly. Yuzu had just managed to fall asleep so waking her up was out of the question; but I wouldn't have anyway, it seemed cruel to bring her back into this reality. My phone read 11:55; I noted that it had almost full battery. At least I didn't have to worry about it dying soon...

I was starting to get tired, but could probably last another hour. However I was getting thirsty, if I had known this was going to happen I would have packed a bag.

Thinking about that, my eyes fell on Yuzu's bag. I really hated to do it, but I knew she kept a water bottle in there. I moved towards her; picking up the bag carefully, I looked through it. It took me a few minutes, because it had fallen to the bottom. I wasn't going to drink much, just enough to wet my mouth.

"Sorry Yuzu." I apologize before uncapping it and taking the first drink, which I immediately spat out; that defiantly wasn't water. I brought the bottle up to the light that filtered through the trees. A green light seeped through the bottle revealing red liquid. _A red drink? _It didn't taste like any juice I'd had before. It had left an iron taste in my mouth kind of like… _Blood!?_

"Yuzu… There's something wrong with you-" I turned towards her to shake her awake, only to be met by an upright coffin. "Atsuro! I think we're in trouble Yuzu turned into a coffin!"

I turned when I didn't get a response; met only by a second coffin where he had been. Had I fallen asleep? I reached for my cell phone; the screen was black as if it was dead … _But it had a full battery 10 minutes ago…_

This had to be a nightmare… that was the only explanation. The moon was green, the water had turned to blood, Yuzu and Atsuro had turned into coffins, and my cell phone had died with a full battery life. I'd have some explaining to do when I woke up in the morning. _Come on… up… Up Kazuya._ I tried to focus my thoughts like I did in so many of my other dreams to alter them, but it wasn't working.

"_Of course it's not working._" A voice rang through the air, it had a familiar tone to it, but I couldn't place it. _"For that to work, this would have to be a dream, Kazuya Minegishi._"

"Who are you!? Did you do this?" Before the events today I wouldn't have believed him, but after seeing demons, it was certainly plausible.

"_You don't know me? That hurts. After all, I know you very well._" The yellow eyes pierced me from across the dark cemetery. I reached out where the barrier should have been, finding that it was gone, we were defenseless if this man knew how to use demons. I pulled out my COMP, desperately trying to turn it on, finding it in the same state as my cell phone; completely dead. "_Welcome to the Dark Hour. A time between one day and the next, where monsters known as shadows roam the world and attack anyone outside of a coffin. And today, they are exceptionally hungry._" Within the trees a number of yellow eyes flickered into existence.

The fear started to bubble up within me, I didn't know what a shadow was but something told me it wasn't much different from Demons; and without the ability to summon mine, no matter how weak it may have been, I couldn't hope to defend myself against these.

_Doest_ _thou fear death?_

"What did you say?" The voice was different then the one before me, the fear being replaced by a wave rage. "You think you can just threaten _ME_!? I don't know who you think you are? You think you can scare me_?"_ I don't know where the words were coming from, but my fear was gone.

_Awaken._

"_What's going on? A resonance!? We have a live one!" _The yellow-eyed freak sounded excited. "_Go!"_

"_Persona!"_ I don't know where the word came from, or why I said it, but it dropped from my lips. The unsettling black aura surrounded me, stopping all the shadows.

'_I am thou, and thou art I." _ The demon that had emerged from me seemed different from the demons we had summoned earlier; the dark aura that surrounded it filled me with dread and excitement. Dark skinned and wearing red armor it wielded a single large sword.

"_This is what I was looking for! A challenge! Kill him! And his shadow!" _The creatures slithered out of the darkness, wearing different colored masks, black as night, only visible thanks to the green light of the moon.

"Maragidyne!" Another spell, which I hadn't known before, slipped my lips as the demon summoned forth a massive flame, consuming the shadows in an instant. "Answer me! Who are you!?"

The voice merely chuckled as its eyes melted back into the darkness. "_I'll come again. After all, we are one and the same."_

The shadows had vanished, and the persona was no longer needed. But as I tried to recall it, a throbbing pain shot through my head.

_I am thou, and thou art I. I am Baal. One who is many, and many who are One._

"No… You… aren't me…" I couldn't stand the thought, the images of death flashing through my head.

The voice blasted through my head; _A twisted power which will bring you destruction and ruin._ Had this been what Amane was talking about?

_Thou Art Hatred Incarnate._

"No… I… Am nothing like that! I don't hate anyone!"

_Thou Art Destruction Personified._

"No… No… You aren't… You can't be me! That's impossible!" The darkness swelled around me, and right before the world returned to normal, the persona did not return to me, but instead shattered as I lost consciousness.


End file.
